Here's why clients returned to Daybreak Center 2 weeks ago

Despite serving a vulnerable population, Daybreak Center in Joliet has not closed during the pandemic.

Kathleen Langdon, director of develop and communications for Catholic Charities, Diocese of Joliet, said clients moved to hotels in March and returned to the shelter on Sept. 15 after the shelter was reconfigured.

“We put 110 people up in hotels,” Langdon said. “Catholic Charities paid for all their food and all their rooms.”

In addition to the “thousands” Catholic Charities spent on the shelter, the nonprofit also increased the amount of mobile pantries events from three a month to nine to 12 a month and serving 12,981 people since March.

"A third of those were children," she said.

Catholic Charities purchases the food from the Northern Illinois Food Bank and then distributes it where need is high, such as in food deserts, she said, adding that12,981 individuals.

Many had lost their jobs and never visited a food pantry.

“People who have never had to ask for food before are finding themselves in these very long lines looking for food,” Langdon said. “It’s very difficult for people who never had to ask for their basic needs to ask for help.”

Requests for utility assistance, mortgage and rental assistance, medical assistance through voucher, clothing and toiletries have also increased, she said.

Catholic Charities also held three drive-thru back-to-school fairs and served 2,620 children, she said. Families registered in advance. Volunteers placed school supplies, backpacks and boxes of food directly into the trunk.

"At our regular back-to-school fair, we have 50 to 100 other services that come in," Langdon said. "The only downside is that they weren't on-site where parents and families could go to service to service to service."

While the clients were staying in hotels, case mangers kept in touch with them via phone calls and completed paperwork for services through text or email, she said.

Catholic Charities even continued seeking permanent housing for clients. This was challenging because not all places were showing their apartments, she said.

Case managers also made wellness calls to seniors. If seniors needed food, it was brought to them in boxes and left on their porches, she said.

“We were very concerned because a lot of our seniors living alone and we all know the harm loneliness brings,” she said. “Sadly, we have seen the adult protective services go up.”

Boxed lunches are still being distributed each a day instead of reopening Shepherd’s Table at this point, she said. The number of clients staying at the shelter is reduced to 50, she said. If more clients need shelter, Daybreak will find other options for them, she said.

The clients are still sleeping in a dormitory, but now they sleep at least six feet apart on a cot that’s surrounded by plexiglass, giving clients their own cubicles, Langdon said.

Everyone wears facemasks, temperatures are taken and “everything is disinfected two to three times a day,” she said.

Daybreak Center has seen only one case of COVID-19 since the shelter reopened. That person left by ambulance, she said.

In fact, any client with symptoms of the coronavirus will be transported by ambulance for a test. If the test is negative, the client brings back the results..

If the client has covid and isn’t hospitalized, the client may go to MorningStar Mission in Joliet. If MorningStar Mission can’t take the client, Catholic Charities will place the client in a hotel, she said.

“If we had a breakout of covid, we would have then moved our clients to hotels,” she said. “We believe we have the proper protocols in place now. And we’re hoping that a breakout would be unlikely because of all we’ve done to secure the safely of our clients.”

That makes all the reconfigurations worth it, she feels. People living on the streets are not only vulnerable, they’re able to spread the virus, she said.

“Thank goodness they have a place like Daybreak to go to,” Langdon said. “Otherwise the spread in Will County could have been much higher.”

But with the increased need came cancellation of fundraising events. So donations from the community are greatly needed, she said.

“It’s really been a struggle,” Langdon said. “It took a lot from our budget this year…we are really relying on people to make a donation. Because other than grants, which we're not sure will keep coming, we have very, very limited means of providing for our clients."

To donate to Catholic Charities and for more information, visit catholiccharitiesjoliet.org.